In Search of an Ideal City: The Influence of Utopian Ideas on Urban Planning
In Search of an Ideal City: The Influence of Utopian Ideas on Urban Planning

Summary/Abstract: The article presents the impact of ideas contained in utopian conceptions of cities on the development of the urban-planning thought. While analyzing the development of town- planning throughout centuries, it is possible to conclude that the utopian (seemingly unreal) assumptions of proposed models did find their reflection in urban-planning conceptions which provided the springboard for concrete designs of real cities. The author makes a review of the most significant visions of the utopian city, ones that appeared in all epochs, beginning with the ancient conception included in Plato’s Republic through Thomas Moore’s Utopia, campanelli’s Civitas Solis, designs of the 19th-century utopians and attempts at their realization, well into the 20th-century instances of implementation of social models which can also be included into utopian conceptions of the city. The principles behind city-planning in the 20th century were – to the greatest extent – influenced by three conceptions: Howard’s garden, le corbusier’s ville radieuse and F.l. Wright’s Broadcare city, all of them containing an element of utopian conceptions. The author emphasizes the special influence of such conceptions on setting directions to designing cities which are expected to cater for social needs.

• Details
• Contents